Nap of the Day: Piping Rock has piping-hot claims at Wincanton

It's the start of the week as far as I and Nap of the Day duties are concerned - and I'm hoping to get things off to a flyer.

We go to Wincanton in search of a winner on Tuesday.

Emma Lavelle is enjoying a nice run of form, courtesy of two winners and seven places from her last 11 runners, which bodes well for PIPING ROCK ahead of this 2m4f novices' hurdle at Wincanton on Tuesday.

The four-year-old son of Poet's Word was, for this day and age at least, a relatively inexpensive (£30k) point-to-point recruit and he made a highly-encouraging debut under rules at Windsor last month.

He finished runner-up to the race-fit Tiddesley Wood of Fergal O'Brien, who'd finished third in a decent-looking Class 3 maiden at Aintree on his debut. The pair were over eight lengths clear of the rest of the field, which included the 6/5f Doctor On Call and the 115-rated Jaccours.

That sets a fair standard and at his age and inexperience, he's open to any amount of improvement. He sure shaped like he'd come on a good bit for the run.

Key here is that his main market rival, Gatineau Park for the red-hot Kim Bailey & Mat Nicholls partnership, carries a seven-pound penalty for his victory at Lingfield last time out. I don't rate that form as highly as the selection's, though, so for me he's got a lot on his plate.

Who knows what to expect from Olly Murphy's Hold The Serve? He won his only point-to-point, fetched over 60k euros and was sent off 13/8f for his debut in a maiden at the November Meeting at Cheltenham of all places. He beat only three of 13 rivals home, though, and has undergone wind surgery since. I'd say he's best watched.

I can see Syd Hosie's Khafre, who was seventh in that same Cheltenham maiden, is already proving popular with punters. That's an obvious concern, but I'm not sure I see an obvious case for her winning this.

It's asking a lot of Joe Tizzard's debutant Hadrianus, whose last run was on the flat a whopping 844 days ago, to do the same, while the rest of the field - including Joyau Allen for Paul Nicholls who was pulled-up on his last start - are difficult to advise.

I think Piping Rock has a piping-hot chance here.

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